


A Chance Encounter

by erikahk



Category: Being Human (UK), Highlander: The Series
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Ghosts of the Past - Freeform, Paris - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 16:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2158176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erikahk/pseuds/erikahk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom and Hal decide that Alex should be wooed in Paris Paris, not wooed in Paris on Barry Island. Hal just does not expect to be recognized by someone that should have died a hundred years before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Chance Encounter

"Oh, my God!" Alex twirled around and clapped her hands, giggling. The skirt of her dress span then bounced up and down. "Paris! We are in Paris. Actual Paris!"

Hal smiled as he continued walking down the street. "Yes, I figured this would be a destination more to your liking." 

Tom adjusted his shirt and tried, most ineffectively, to look as elegant as his surroundings. "Yeah, and since you wanted to be wooed in Paris, we decided to put together what we made so far in the hotel plus a slight bit more from a generous client and come'ere." 

Alex still bounced and sauntered. "I can't believe this!" She suddenly stopped and turned around to face them. "But, wait a minute. I was already wooed in Paris. We've scratched that off the list."

"Yeah…" Tom bobbed his head from side to side. "But you were wooed in Paris on Barry Island and not wooed in Paris Paris. And… well… what if you do not pass over because you weren't properly wooed?"

Hal's smile broadened. Tom certainly did have a way with words.

"Aw, Tom, that's sweet." 

Tom blushed and looked down. "Well, it was Hal's idea, anyway… I wanted to save the money for an emergency."

"No, you did not!" Hall laughed. "You wanted to save the money for an actual swimming pool."

"What?" Alex mouth hung open. "What about Paris? I consider that an emergency."

Hal looked innocently from Alex back to Tom, waiting for a reprieve.

"I'm not saying I don't care if you don't pass over or not. It just that Paris didn't cross me mind." He made the trademark kicked dog face. "I'm sorry, Alex."

She smiled. "It's okay, Tom." She looked at Hal and made a face that made him stop breathing for several seconds. It wasn't until she turned around to resume her sauntering that he released it. 

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and followed them.

 

 

Duncan thanked the clerk and exited the shop, opening the door with his elbow while holding the bags full of groceries. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, appreciating the clear weather for the first time in weeks. Spring was coming and with it his poor mood started to vanish just as quickly. 

He smiled and placed the bags in the back of his car then tapped his pockets looking for his sunglasses. As he put them on, he glanced at the other side of the street, his eyes stopping on a male figure walking on the sidewalk opposite. 

His breath caught for a moment. Duncan paused mid-step and removed the tinted lenses to get a better look. 

It couldn't be. 

He recognized that very walk, the composure and the measured soft words. That same face and that same voice, politely speaking, phrases and chosen words that made him seem like he had simply elected to ignore the passage of time and the sound of contemporary English. 

It couldn't be. This close he would have sensed if he was an Immortal. He would have known then and he would know it now. 

And yet, he couldn't deny it. Looking at the man made his mind instantly go a hundred years back, to that same street, the exact reproduction of this scene.

Lady Katherine walking, her arms interlocked to that of an English gentleman, her soft giggles mixed with the sound of his voice…

Duncan closed the door of the car and followed both men. He crossed the street and fell a little behind, walking for two blocks until they stopped by a store to look at the window. Duncan turned away to look at the shop nearest to him and pretended to be interested in whatever item was sold there. He glanced at the side then entered an alleyway when they made a show of turning back to where they had come from. 

He waited by the wall but was surprised when he suddenly found himself being firmly held against it by his neck.

"Who are you and why are you following us?"

Duncan tried to wiggle free but the arm holding him was much stronger than it looked and lifted him up until all was left touching the ground was his toes. He felt his neck being squeezed and then, just as suddenly, the arm was gone and Duncan was inhaling a lungful of blissful air. 

The bliss didn't last long. Duncan flipped around and reversed positions, locking the man against the wall with both arms for a fraction of a second before he felt himself thrown back against the opposite wall, unable to move.

He frowned as he continued to struggle, an invisible force keeping him in place while the second man fiercely held the first against the opposite wall. 

"Easy, Hal."

They struggled for a few moments until both men stopped, a nod being all the young man needed to release his friend. 

They walked towards Duncan and stood before him.

"Now, if you don't mind answering the question," the young man said. 

"If you don't mind putting me down…" Duncan looked from one man to another.

"Nah, nah. You're the one who was following us."

Duncan ignored the young man and scrutinized Hal who narrowed his eyes in return. 

"No, it cannot be."

Duncan gave a wicked smile. "Surprised to see me?" 

Hal gave a step backwards and shook his head. "No, you're dead. You must be his son, h-his grandson…"

"Hal, do you know him?"

"Oh, it's me all right," Duncan admitted. 

"But how is that possible? Y-you're not--" He stepped closer and sniffed the air. "You're… human?"

"Why? Aren't you?" He looked Hal up and down. "What the hell are you?"

"What the hell are _you_?" he asked in return. 

"Okay, then," the young man interrupted. "So you two know each other." When neither responded, he looked back at his friend. "Hal?"

"Is that what they're calling you nowadays? Lord Harry?" Duncan put as much poison at his accusation as possible. 

"Yeah, but that can't be," the young man said as he looked at empty space. 

There was a brief silence.

"Yes, Hal, explain!" The young man now turned to face his friend. 

"What's your name?"

"Don't you remember?" Duncan tried to free himself from the wall.

"Just humor me."

"Duncan Macleod, of the clan Macleod."

Lord Harry, Hal, stepped back and Duncan could see the wheels turning inside his head. Then he puffed in indignation and snapped around suddenly. "Can you stop with the incessant questioning?" 

Duncan's eyebrow shot up. 

"Huh… yes, of course." Hal turned back and straightened his white T-shirt. "Well, you must have me confused with someone else." He turned to empty space. "Alex, release him." He paused for a second. "Just release him!" he snarled. 

Duncan felt gravity take over and met the ground, finally sensing the blood coming back to his extremities. 

"Now, we'll just get going. Tom?"

Before they could move, Duncan bolted pinned Hal back against the wall again.

"I-I told you. You must have me confused. I-I don't know you!"

"Yes, you do," Duncan sneered. "You talk like him, you sound like him, you look like him and you behave like him." He jammed him by the collar. "You-killed-her," he breathed into his ear.

Duncan felt the young man's hands digging into his shoulders.

"I'm sorry," Hal said, his voice breaking. "I'm so sorry." His eyes started to redden and water. "I know words will never be enough, I know nothing I do will ever redeem what I've done."

Duncan pressed him further into the wall, breathing hard.

"But I'm so sorry. I know I'm a coward and a killer that doesn't deserve to live and if you want to kill me, I won't struggle."

"No, you don't. You don't deserve to live."

Hal closed his eyes as Duncan squeezed harder. 

"No, no, don't!" The boy, Tom, grabbed Duncan by the arm and again the invisible force dragged him away from Hal. 

"Look, I know how you feel. I know you want to kill him, but he's not like that anymore," Tom said. "He's changed." He looked at the figure still frozen against the wall. "Just give him a chance. He's clean now." He looked back at Duncan. "And I don't know how you could even know him from those days, but I swear he hasn't killed anyone in fifty-five years."

"Is that supposed to make it better?" Duncan spat.

"No. No, it doesn't." Hal opened his eyes and looked at him. "I know it doesn't. And nothing I do will ever bring her back."

"And nothing _I_ do will ever bring her back," Duncan said, exasperated. 

Hal looked up. "You're Immortal, aren't you?"

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "How do you know? You're not one of us."

"I've seen your kind before," he said, composure coming back to his words. "But not more than a handful. It's hard to tell. You are just like ordinary humans. Even to us. Even to the eldest of us."

"And you?" What could he be if not one of them?

Hal's eyes darted around, going from Tom to the alleyway.

"Something else," he said.

"Something else?" Duncan replied, not satisfied with his evading answers.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but we have business to attend to." With that he turned and started to walk away.

Duncan went after him and grabbed him by the arm. Hal froze and stiffened and turned around slowly. 

"You owe me an explanation. You owe her."

Hal stared at Duncan's hand as he untangled himself from his hold. "Don't do that. It's not wise to provoke me."

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?"

"No. It's merely a fact that it is not wise to tease the monster inside me." Hal faced Duncan and gave one step back. "I am usually able to control him but if he snaps, there is nothing to hold him back."

Duncan scrutinized the man. Speaking about oneself in the third person could be a sign of many things, none of them good.

"And what monster would that be?"

"A vampire."

Duncan would have laughed if not for the absolute calmness and detached coldness that came with the tone of voice. It sent a shiver down his spine.

"A vampire?" he repeated.

"Yes. That's what I am. A bloodthirsty monster who takes pleasure in killing helpless victims."

With a blink, Hal's eyes turned dark, the blackness enveloping the entire eyeball, so pitch black Duncan could see the devil himself inside. And then, just as suddenly, it was gone and he was back to staring at green eyes.

"I've been clean for the past five decades, but you never know when the monster will emerge again." He looked down then up again. "He always does."

"Then why?" Duncan asked. "Why kill? Why stop killing?"

"We kill because it is our nature. Every cell in our body calls us into it. The need for blood is in our DNA, there is no denying it. We smell it and hear it every minute of our immortal lives, luring us into killing, sometimes even without our notice. But a life of violence, bloodlust and killing is only appealing for so long." He stepped closer to Duncan. "I will not be a slave to this addiction. I control _it_ so it doesn't control me. And my self-control rewards me with much more valuable, immeasurable things than the monster ever could." He glanced at Tom. "Things life friendship, love, happiness… things that escape and elude us in an existence of constant torture and death." His look fell back to Duncan. "I'm sure someone like you can understand."

Duncan nodded. He knew better than anyone that people could change over the course of a few centuries even if they didn't want to. He had seen Immortals who had been true monsters in the past become kind and generous, people Duncan now considered friends.

"I do." He held his gaze. "You can go."

"Thank you."

"But if you ever kill again…"

"You'll have to get in line." He turned towards Tom.

"Don't worry. I trust him," Tom said. "We'll keep him good." He looked at Hal then back at Duncan. "I've killed hundreds of them. Hal's different."

"If you say so."

Duncan turned around and walked away from the alley back to his car.


End file.
